Hi, future readers. I’m Nidhi, and I’m learning to code (You’re now supposed to say, “Hi, Nidhi” and tell me that I’m in a safe space to share my feelings.)

The “TL;DR” version of the mess below: This blog is to help me track my coding progress, help me problem-solve, & share some nuggets of knowledge. I’m also going to be an Opportunity Fund Fellow at General Assembly for Jan 2016, so I’ll probably be talking about that soon!

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I’m starting this blog for a few reasons:

I want a way to discuss the problems I’m facing as I’m learning.

I am one of those people who needs to write things down/read them to remember them. Which is why I don’t know people’s names unless they wear name tags. (I still call my boyfriend ‘you’)

Hopefully I can harness good ol’ societal pressure to persuade me to make cooler things. Like a web app that will automatically make your friends purchase everything in your “Save for Later” section on Amazon. Such a brilliant idea, amirite?

There’s a slim chance that in the not-so-distant future, my ramblings will help someone as they learn. If it’s in the distant future, then these words will mean nothing unless translated to Newspeak.

I also want to (at some point!) have a solid list of free resources that can help self-learners out there with the basics of web development. There are a plethora out there, and it’s hard to distinguish which the best are. I remember the first hurdle I faced was “Well, I get the basics of coding….but WHERE DO I PUT MY CODE?!” It’s amazing how many great coding resources don’t go over this.

A little about my me (besides the fact that I use A LOT OF PARENTHESES WHEN I WRITE):

I majored in Math & Film in college, and specialized in digital media. I took a few non-major CS courses in college, but tended to feel discouraged and confused at times (without then realizing that ~*everyone*~ feels this way when learning to code). Also, coding seemed dull at the time and anytime someone said ‘database’ I would tune out, so I didn’t go out of my way to become a CS genius. After I moved to the Bay Area for a fellowship at Khan Academy, I became more interested in the possibilities of technology and design. I’m especially fascinated in using coding for creative +design endeavors – i.e. interactive storytelling, education (see: Explorable Explanations), and interaction design.

In mid-January, I’ll start as an Opportunity Fund Fellow at General Assembly’s Web Development Bootcamp, where I’ll be learning to code full-time for three months. I’m pretty excited about this, though I know I have a lot to learn beforehand to make good use of my time.

Where I am now in my learnin’:

I’ve gotten pretty familiar with HTML/CSS, though I’m realizing lately that there is a lot more to know about CSS (and how terrible it can be when you just want it to do a simple thing)

I’ve become more comfortable with JavaScript in terms of syntax and basic logic (using for/while loops for iteration, using collections, etc.). I’m also getting familiar with jQuery, though it’s far from rolling off the tips of my fingers.

I’m now using Terminal for things (big step!) and have gotten over my fear of committing things to GitHub. I also know how to host my site locally now. Things are looking up. I still haven’t gotten used to putting a project up for the world to see yet.

I have taught myself ~some ~Ruby (from Aug-October), but now have forgotten most of it. I also learned more about specs and tests using testfirst.org.

I’m still learning about how computers work. It seems important to know considering I spend the majority of my time on one….though I think I enjoy tinkering more so than I enjoy knowing about the reason why it works.